Page 132 of Every Chance After

I cup her cheeks, locking eyes with her. “Thisis us now. Stay tonight. Every night. Bring the cats. Move in. Or I’ll be at yours with the dogs. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter where we are as long as we’re together.Thisis home.” I motion between us, and moonlight catches the gleam in her eyes.

She laughs, letting a tear slip. “We’re Brady-Bunching our pets now?”

“Whatever it takes. I mean it. We are family. I’ll say it as often as you need to hear it. Understood?”

She nods, holding back tears that make me hope she believes it.

“I’ve never been happier, Grady. Never.” Her words are barely a whisper and sound sad.

Hearing her say that should please me, but it doesn’t. For her, happiness is a mirage, a gorgeous, dream-like oasis in the desert that vanishes as soon as she gets close, and she believes this will disappear, too.

I’ll prove otherwise.

CHAPTERFORTY-ONE

Grady

We don’t sleep much,but it’s still the most restful night I’ve had in years. My arms are empty when I wake, and the bed feels cold. I jerk up, rubbing my eyes to take in the room. She’s gone.

I find her on the dock, a throw blanket caped around her naked body, staring at the lake as the sun rises. A misty fog lingers, waiting for the sun to burn it away. Orange bands peek through the towering pine trees, spotlighting the water in pieces, bringing color to the grayness.

That’s what she’s done for me—brought color to my grayness.

My arms lock around her, and she leans into me. I kiss her exposed shoulder. “You disappeared on me. I should’ve been clear—I wanted to wake up to you, too.”

“Sorry. I wanted to see.”

“Wake me, next time.”

“Imagine waking up to this every day,” she sighs. Since Idowake up to it every day, it seems like she’s talking more to herself. “It’s beautiful. I see why people pay big bucks to live here.”

She takes a deep breath, twisting in my arms and smiling wide when she faces me. “Good morning.” A soft kiss bookends her greeting. She wraps her blanket around me, crushing her naked body against me. Our kiss deepens in a breath, and damn if I don’t want to take her right then and there. Against a dock post. In my deck chair. On the pier itself. Hell, even in the water. I don’t care. I belong to her now.

Like she’s read my mind, her hand slips over my pajama pants, gripping me. The blanket falls off one shoulder, exposing her breast. And she smiles over my sharp inhale, seeing her like this. We are raw from kissing. Raw from fucking. Yet, I want her again, desperately, like we haven’t spent the last eight hours this way.

She agrees without a word when she lets the blanket fall to her feet.

Naked Marina, drenched in morning sun. Achingly beautiful.

A protective pang rips through me, scanning our surroundings. I don’t want anyone to see her. She is for me. But it’s a quiet nook of the lakefront. It’s early, and the mist acts like a shield. I hope.

She backs against a post, and I follow, devouring her lips, her neck, as she wraps her legs around me. She moans full-on when I push inside, scaring birds into flight nearby, which makes her laugh. I love that she’s having fun with me. That she wants me like this. That dock-fucking might become a thing for us, like playing chess and impromptuthingsat Rebellion.

I want us to have so many things.

After, we shower. She lets me braid her hair, a much sexier activity than the first time I did it. We fix breakfast. Over coffee on the back porch, we make plans. It’s Sunday. Barring any emergencies, we’re both off. She wants to play chess and learn how to fish.

I’m in heaven.

Her ringing phone breaks our peaceful moment. She rushes inside, searching for it in her bag.

“Wren?” she answers. “Everything?—”

In the heavy pause, her demeanor changes, light to dark, in a cold second.

“What?” Her voice trembles before she swallows a lump in her throat and seems to return to herself. “Yes, I’m sorry, Wren. I hate that you’re in that position. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

She ends the call and calmly reports, “There’s a woman at my door claiming to be my mother. Wren doesn’t know what to do.”

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